


The Long Wait

by Solstice0612



Category: Stargate SG-1
Genre: M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-07
Updated: 2017-09-07
Packaged: 2018-12-24 18:27:08
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 818
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12018501
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Solstice0612/pseuds/Solstice0612
Summary: When a cigarette is the only company you have.





	The Long Wait

**Author's Note:**

> My deepest thanks to Saladscream for creating such a beautiful banner for this story and for letting me use her gorgeous manip of Daniel smoking. Her image inspired me to consider this question: "what would make Daniel smoke?" This story explores a possible answer. Also, a million thanks to Topazowlet for her timely beta.

             

              

_Banner by Saladscream_

 

The cigarette felt awkward in his hand. Daniel couldn’t remember the last time he had held one before today; probably at some party back in college. He knew it wasn’t a good idea. Drawing smoke into his lungs made him cough and brought unwanted attention to his trembling fingers. Not exactly the image of a suave smoker. But he didn’t care. He was shaken and smoking helped him keep things together while he waited.

He stared at the overflowing ashtray in the designated smoking area, a parking garage across the street from the emergency room. He dropped the butt on the floor, extinguished the embers with his foot, and pushed the flattened stump towards the ashy pile.

Daniel was alone coping with this one. Sam wasn’t even in the same galaxy and the small group of people he called his friends and teammates had all left for the long weekend. He had done the same thing. Jack had a briefing at the SGC so they had made plans to meet in Denver hoping for a diner, a movie, and two days of unhurried sex.

He fished for the cellphone in the pocket of his black dinner jacket to check for messages. Nothing. No one was coming to help. Janet was no longer there to fix anything. Nor Jacob, nor Thor, nor anyone else. The thought made him want to smoke again, but he pushed back the anxiety.

 Daniel got up and walked towards the pedestrian bridge connecting the parking lot with the hospital, and then stopped in the middle. He looked down at the cars coming and going below him. People were arriving, carrying with them their own worries; or leaving, hopefully on their way to wellness. He wanted to feel that hope, that sense that things would be okay. To conjure that burst of positive thinking that Jack was always trying to drum into his brain, so prone to see complexities and complications.

He missed Jack.

Slowly, he walked towards the elevator, exited on the floor with the surgery ward and found his way through antiseptic smelling hallways to the waiting room. He glanced at the poster art on the walls, bland and pretty. There weren’t that many people waiting. He sat down on a bench resting his head against the sage-green wall. His inner eye filled with images.

Jack had looked really tired when he arrived at the hotel that afternoon. His color had seemed off too, but he insisted he felt fine when he pushed Daniel towards the bed, the horny, adorable, impatient old goat.

Daniel smiled but then remembered how Jack had trouble waking up and how slow he’d been getting ready for dinner. Before leaving, the sudden rattling noise in the bathroom had made him run, only to find Jack unresponsive on the floor.

The rest was all a frantic blur of trying to keep Jack alive until the paramedics arrived. They had taken him away leaving Daniel behind in their hotel suite, the bitter taste of duty souring his mouth. With great deliberation, he had opened the hotel min-bar, grabbed a pack, and lit a cigarette.

 

                                              

_Art by Saladscream  
_

 

Before he could rush to the hospital to be with Jack, he needed to contact Landry at the SGC and put the medical emergency in an acceptable context. Jack was counting on Daniel to protect him against all those who would not hesitate to use their relationship against them. And Daniel always kept his word.Sitting on their rumpled bed, as he waited for Landry to call him back, Daniel had smoked a cigarette, contemplating the unbearable price he had to pay for having Jack in his life.

By the time Daniel arrived at the hospital Jack was already in surgery, so he found a place to settle down for the lonely, smoke-filled wait.

The TV in the corner of the waiting room droned on, unattended. Daniel wanted another cigarette and considered going back to the garage but his limbs felt too heavy to take him.

A hand on his shoulder startled him into attention. His blue eyes, red-rimmed with grief and worry, focused on a woman wearing scrubs.

“Dr. Jackson, right? I’m Dr. Taylor.”

“Uhm, yes, hi. How’s Jack?” asked Daniel standing up.

“General O’Neill is in recovery and doing well. We did an angioplasty and found a significant blockage in one of his arteries. We were able to remove the plaque and restore circulation. His heart and arteries are in fairly good condition, but he’ll need treatment to keep his cholesterol down and prevent further arterial disease.”

“Can I see him?”

“I’ll take you to post-op.”

Daniel thanked the doctor and taking a deep breath he followed her. Before going beyond the swinging double doors he stopped briefly to drop in the trash a small box with the picture of a camel.

His wait was over.

 

The end

 


End file.
